Alternative Market Briefing

UBP`s AUM remain stable, says Guy de Picciotto, Frogg: UBP sees `unique` opportunities in hedge fund segment

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Opalesque Exclusive: UBP`s AUM remain stable, says Guy de Picciotto From the Opalesque team: Guy de Picciotto, CEO of Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), a Swiss bank and one of the biggest fund of hedge funds house, told Swiss newspaper Le Temps that in 2008, UBP have gone from a period of 20% growth for the last 5 years to a period of preservation. Indeed, UBP now targets a portfolio with heavy weighting in cash and bonds. As at end-June 2008, UBP’s AUM was CHF126.7bln ($106.7bln), of which CHF58bln ($48.8bln) invested in hedge funds.

De Picciotto told Le Temps: “Up until the Lehman collapse, our portfolio was returning an average of -5% compared to markets returning -20%.” Since then, hedge funds have lost another 10%, as stocks lost twice as much.

But De Picciotto still believes in hedge funds: “I believe they should return two thirds of the markets’ rise and only one third of the markets’ fall. Here, they did just that. Our flagship FoHFs, the $1bln+ Dinvest Total Return, launched in 1986, returned -15% over 12 months, compared to -37% for the S&P500. Over the last 5 years, the FoHFs stands at +29%, compared to -7.8% for the S&P500.

UBP clients remain calm, he said, and some have even re-allocated from alternatives to cash and government bonds; so there was an internal move of 15% of capital (CHF8bln). The bank has not seen outflows of drastic proportions.

UBP has also stopped hiring since this summer, and is not replacin......................

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